HI 



function. Perhaps most of the avengers may have been of 

 the class of the civil Judges, and that, as is usual in many 

 cases, the term being generalized, outran the idea, and was 

 applied to them all indiscriminately. The verse (Jud. 2. 16.) 

 which I have alluded to, is as follows ; " Nevertheless, the 

 Lord raised up Judges, which delivered \_jnargiii, " saved,"] 

 them out of the hand of those that spoiled them." It is evi- 

 dent, from the sequel of the history, that many of the 

 Judges did not deliver Israel, for their countrymen were not 

 oppressed during their administration, as Tolah, Abimeiccli, 

 Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. It is evident, also, that the term 

 " Judges," applied to the deliverer, or the description 

 " judged Israel," does not occur, e.\cept in one instance, 

 until after the time of Tola. " Ehud is not mentioned to have 

 judged Israel ; Deborah judged Israel, as we have seen, dur- 

 ing the third servitude; and Barak is not recorded to have 

 judged Israel, or rather, he is expressly distinguished from 

 the Judges, (Jud. 5. 10.); Gideon, the fifth avenger, after 

 bis conquest of the Midianites, and his refusal of the sove- 

 reignty, (Jud. 8. 23.) " went and dwelt in his own house," 

 (v. 29.); but he seems to have possessed a local jurisdiction 

 in his own tribe. They were all deliverers, and, as such, en- 

 joyed influence and authority, but not exclusive jurisdiction. 

 The exception is that of Otimiel : " the spirit of tiie Lord 

 came upon him,' and he judged Israel, and went out to war." 

 (Jud. 3. 10.) It should seem from this, that the proper term, 



VOL. XI. Q " Judge," 



